Fastener caps are often used in the lumber industry to secure protective plastic sheeting or wraps to exposed loads of slumber during transportation and storage. The fastener caps are generally the same type of fastener caps used in the roofing industry to secure an overlayment, such as asphalt shingles, plastic sheeting, or metallic roof panels, to the underlying plywood of the roof deck. Roofing fastener caps are typically made from a hard plastic material that is thick enough to prevent the head or crown of a fastener from pulling through the fastener cap, and conformable enough to seal around the body of the fastener to prevent moisture from seeping into the aperture created by the fastener. In addition, when linked together as a fastener cap assembly, the roofing fastener caps can be automatically applied to the roofing surface with a fastener driving tool or nail gun. Unfortunately, however, when roofing fastener caps are used to secure protective wrap over lumber that is destined for reduction into wood pulp, the plastic caps often fall into the process intake when the lumber wrap is removed, thereby contaminating the pulp stream.
What is needed is a fastener cap and fastener cap assembly made from a more pulp-friendly material that will still reliably secure the protective plastic wrap to the load of lumber and prevent pull-through of the fastener head or crown, even when subjected to harsh outdoor conditions such as rain, snow, sleet and ice, and over time to UV exposure from sunlight. It is toward such a fastener cap and fastener cap assembly that the present invention disclosure is directed.